I'm Sorry
by MusicMagician07
Summary: "So, your village turned you into this," I say to him. "I was always like this," Gaara replies. "No, you weren't. You weren't like this when I first met you, remember?" "… No," he lies. I know he remembers me. I can see it in his eyes. ONE SHOT Gaara x OC


Was it his red hair? Or was it his beautiful turquoise eyes that held loneliness in them? I don't know, but I was curious about him, Gaara of the Sand, when I first saw him. I was visiting the Sand Village with my father years ago. My father had some business there, and I went along. There, I met Gaara.

Gaara was always alone. I remember that every time I saw him, he's by himself, holding a bear, which I presumed was his only company. I remember it clearly, that day when I decided to approach him.

_**/**__**Flashback**__**/**_

"Just stay here, Aiya. Papa will just go to meet with someone," Papa says as he hands me my bag. "This will be the last meeting, okay? Then we can go back to Konoha."

"Okay, Papa," I say, taking out my sketch book, not really caring if about his business here.

I take a seat on a swing set that's under the shade of a tree in the park Papa left me. Papa always brings me to his business meetings when he has a chance. I don't even know why. He should know I don't even understand what's going on.

"Hey guys, it's the sand freak. Let's go," I hear someone say. I look up from my sketch book and see a boy about my age. He has red hair and green eyes that share the same lonely look as mine.

I watch as people around the park slowly leave, leaving the boy alone with his teddy bear. Wait, I've seen this boy many times around here. The thing is, he's always alone… why is that?

Curious, I approach the red haired boy.

"Hey, why are you all alone?" I ask, using my sketch book as a shield from the sun's rays. The boy looks at me, surprised.

"Y-you're not running away," he states shyly.

"Am I supposed to?" I question.

"A lot of people do... I'm Gaara of the Sand... Don't you know what I am?" Gaara says, casting his eyes to the ground.

"No, and I don't care," I reply. Then I stick out my hand. "I'm Miyako, but call me Aiya."

"Aiya, thanks," Garra says, taking my hand and shaking it. "You're not from around here, right?"

I shake my head. "I'm from the Hidden Leaf Village. I'm just here with my Papa because he has work here." Gaara just nods. "Hey Gaara, can we talk under the shade? I'm not used to this heat." Gaara nods again.

We walk over to the swing set where I left my bag full of art supplies. We both sit on the swings without talking for a while.

"You don't talk much," I state, opening my sketch book.

"N-not many people like to talk to me," Gaara says, looking at my sketch book. "I-I like your drawings. They're pretty."

"Thanks. I draw a lot because I don't have many friends back home," I say, continuing the picture of the stream I saw in the forest yesterday.

"Why?" Gaara asks, surprised.

"I just prefer being alone. I'm shy."

"You didn't seem shy when you went up to me."

"That's because you seemed nice. People in my village can be mean at times. Like when my siblings do better than me, they seem to always be praised by many people. I'm always overshadowed by them."

"You have siblings?"

"Yeah, three; two older and one younger. They are all better than me... I even awoke my sharingan, but my mama and papa weren't as proud when my older sister and brother awoke theirs," I mumble, colouring the stream a light shade of blue.

"Don't say that. I'm sure they were proud of you," Gaara says. I just make a 'hmph' sound with a slight pout.

"What about you? What's your story?" I ask.

"The village is scared of me," Gaara whispers only loud enough for me to hear. "They call me a monster..."

A monster... He has a tailed beast in him, doesn't he? Papa and Mama told me about people like them. They told me to stay away from them because they're dangerous.

"Do you have a Bijuu in you?" I ask, putting my pencils crayon down.

"H-how did you know?"

"There's someone like that in my village too. People say the same thing about him. I think his name is Naruto."

"Naruto... Aren't you afraid of Naruto or me because we have a tailed beast in us?" Gaara asks with a sad expression.

"Papa and Mama told my brothers and my sister and me about the tailed beasts, even if it was forbidden. They told us stories about the destruction they're capable of. They wanted us to stay away from their hosts and to shun them," I say. Gaara's face began to fall. "But I don't believe what my parents say. I find it unfair how people are mean to Bijuu hosts! You guys aren't dangerous. You're as human as me. Plus, you're a very nice person, Gaara, I just know it."

"T-thank you. You're the first person that ever said that to me," Gaara says, tears welling up in his eyes.

"You are, and don't forget it or I'll get mad at you. Hey Gaara, can I draw you? I like people I meet in other villages."

Gaara nods. Smiling, I turn to a new page and begin drawing my new friend.

**/**_**Flashback End/**_

Hm, did his village screw him up this bad? Gaara… he was so kind, he was just lonely. He was lonelier that I was. When I look into his eyes, I see much more pain and suffering than when I saw them years ago.

"Aiya, let's go! I don't want to stick around," Len, my teammate, whispers. "That sand freak could sense us, and then he could kill us!"

"Yeah, Aiya," Mimi, my other teammate, agrees as she backs out slowly. "You saw what he did to Shigure's team! Now he's going to do the same with Team Eight!"

"Not if we don't get caught," I say.

"You're crazy! Now come on! We have both scrolls now, let's go!" Len whispers, but accidentally raises his voice at the end.

Suddenly, the tree we're hiding behind is crushed. The three of us look towards the sand siblings and the frightened Team Eight. Of course, the two behind me are panicking, not knowing what to do. I am panicking a bit as well, but I'm trying not to show it.

Our three teams stand in silence, looking at one another. No one dares to move.

"Gaara, let's just go," the girl, I think her name is Temari, says. "Leave them. We got the scroll we need."

"Shut up," is all he says, eyes darkening. This isn't good.

"Guys, I want you to get away from here," I say, not taking my eyes off my old friend.

"We're not leaving you, Aiya! We're a team!" Len says.

"I know. But Gaara is not someone we should mess with. But I just want to talk to him… I met him before."

"Met him before or not, he's dangerous!"

"Len, Mimi, run now. Please. Things might get ugly."

"No. We're not leaving our teammate behind," Mimi says.

"Fine. Then at least find cover." I jump over the broken tree stump and face the sand siblings.

"A sharingan user? You're an Uchiha," the boy, Kankuro, states. "I thought your clan was wiped out except for that Sasuke kid."

"It was. The guy who decided to kill our clan missed me," I reply, crossing my arms.

That night my clan was murdered, I was at Sakura's place for a sleepover. I'm sure whoever killed my clan knew about me, but I guess he didn't care if I lived or not. Though, I'm sure he killed my clan because of the coup d'etat. I never understood the coup d'etat, so I never cared about it.

I turn my attention to Gaara now.

"So, your village turned you into this," I say to him.

"I was always like this," Gaara replies.

"No, you weren't. You weren't like this when I first met you, remember?"

"… No," he lies. I know he remembers me. I can see it in his eyes. "I've never seen you before."

"Let me try and jog your memory then; I told you that you were as human as I'll ever be, then I said I'll get mad at you if you ever forgot."

Gaara stays silent and just looks at me with his cold eyes.

"Uchiha, just leave us be," Kankuro says, already looking at Gaara with worry.

"Fine. I shouldn't waste my time with someone who forgot who they were before," I say, turning around and quickly disappearing into the forest with my team.

Gaara, what happened to you?

_**/About a year and a half later/**_

How long has it been since that day? A year? Maybe it's been little less than two years. I don't really like keeping count. Some nights, I wonder what could've happened to him, the sufferings he had to endure…

"Aiya, Sakura is looking for you," Kakashi says, suddenly appearing in front of me, reading some book.

"Hm? Oh, I forgot, it's that mission today," I say as I quickly putting away my sketch book. Before I can climb down the roof of my house, Kakashi stops me.

"You're going to see him, are you okay with that?" Kakashi asks.

"It's just a mission to escort the Fifth to Sunagakure," I reply. "Nothing more, nothing less."

_**/Two days later - night/**_

I remember the day the Fifth told us that she wants us to escort her to Sunagakure. I remember how Sakura asked why. I remember how surprised I was when the Fifth told us that it was to meet the new Kazekage, Gaara.

I have no idea what happened to him this past year. I was too upset to even talk about him after that incident in the Chunin Exam. Although, I did worry about his wellbeing from time to time.

When I saw Gaara today in the Kazekage uniform, I had no words to describe the happiness I felt for him. When I looked into his eyes this time, they were cold and ruthless anymore, but they're slowly turning back to the eyes that caught my eye the first time I came here.

"Gaara, I'm so proud of you," I say out loud as I look up at the starry sky, sitting on the same swing set I sat on that day.

"I'm glad." I whip around and see Gaara leaning on the tree with his arms crossed.

"Ka-Kazekage!" I say, quickly standing up and bowing.

"You don't have to be so formal, Miyako," Gaara says.

"Right back at you. I thought I told you to call me Aiya when we first met?" I say, sitting on the swing again, facing my friend.

"I know. I just never called you by your actual name. I just want to say it at least once, your actual name," Gaara says.

"Whatever," I chuckle, also crossing my arms. "So, you're the Kazekage now. Good job."

"Thanks."

Then silence between us. Man, this must be really awkward meeting each other again after a year. The last time we met, Gaara had just killed Shigure team and was about to kill Team Eight, and maybe even my own team. But look at him now, he's the Kazekage. If he managed to do this when the village is scared of him, then I guess he'll become a great Kazekage. No, he is a great Kazekage.

"Hey Gaara, remember when I drew a picture of you when we were kids?" I ask, reaching into my bag. I hear Gaara grunt. I'm taking that's a yes. "Well, I never got to give it to you. And... And I made one again today of you in the Kazekage uniform."

After I rummage through my bag and find the two pictures jammed into one sketch book, I shyly get up from the swings and approach Gaara.

"He-here," I say, handing the two pictures to him. He doesn't take it immediately. I bite my lip, worried he won't take the drawings.

Just when I'm about to put away my drawings with a horrible feeling of rejection, Gaara grabs my wrists and pulls me into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

We stand in silence. I hesitantly put my arms around him. Gaara doesn't make a sound, but I know he's crying. I run my fingers through his soft, auburn hair, trying to calm him.

"I'm sorry as well," I say. We both don't say what we're sorry for, but we both know why we are apologising.

The reason why I'm sorry? I didn't try hard enough to snap him out of that state he was in the Chunin Exam. I left him like after I said I shouldn't waste my time with him. That must've hurt him so much. Gaara underwent so much pain, yet I said I wouldn't waste my time with someone like him. I said that, his friend.

For that, Gaara, I'm sorry.

* * *

**A/N: This was originally a Gaara x Reader on my deviantART account, but I got bored and decided to post it on here too. Also, yeah, Miyako is an Uchiha cause… I thought that'd be cool.**

**~MusicMagician07**


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